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How Selection Works
Nothing here is required reading. It exists so that the add-on is never a mystery — if it picks something you did not expect, this page plus Why did it pick that tool? will always explain it.
A swap follows what you do, never where you look.
Bedrock has no "player started breaking a block" event, so the start of a mining action is read from the punch itself. When you begin breaking something, a short session opens. For as long as that session is alive, the block under your crosshair is re-checked every couple of ticks. When the punches stop, the session closes and the borrowed tool goes back.
That is what lets a mixed tunnel flow — stone, gravel, dirt, a mineshaft log, stone — through pickaxe, shovel, shovel, axe, pickaxe without you releasing the button.
It is also why glancing past a cow, a chest and a log on the way to the block you actually wanted changes nothing.
Combat works the same way: the weapon comes out when you start attacking, not when an entity enters your crosshair.
Every block resolves to a requirement: a tool class, a minimum tier, and a drop intent.
The lookup is an explicit table first, block tags second. Tags alone are not enough — Bedrock tags sculk as neither stone nor plant, a cobweb carries no tag saying "shears or a sword", and nothing in the tag set distinguishes an ore you want Fortune on from an ore you do not care about.
Some answers people commonly get wrong:
| Block | Wants |
|---|---|
| Sculk, sculk veins, catalysts, shriekers, sensors | Hoe |
| Sponge and wet sponge | Hoe |
| Hay bales, dried kelp, nether wart blocks, shroomlight, target blocks | Hoe |
| Wool, carpet, leaves, vines | Shears |
| Cobweb | Shears, or a sword as a stand-in |
| Bamboo | Sword, or an axe as a stand-in |
| Muddy mangrove roots | Shovel |
| Mangrove roots | Axe |
| Nether stems and hyphae | Axe |
| Copper in every state — cut, waxed, oxidized, grates, bulbs, doors | Pickaxe |
| Chains, bone blocks, lanterns, hoppers, anvils, bells | Pickaxe |
| Decorated pots, flower pots, beds, banners, candles | Nothing — no tool helps and the wrong one can cost you the drop |
An unrecognised block from another add-on resolves to "no requirement", and the engine leaves your held item alone rather than guessing.
A candidate is dropped entirely if any of these is true:
- it is not the required class, or an accepted stand-in for it
- its tier cannot legally harvest the block
- its class is switched off in the world settings
- it is marked Never auto-select
- it is too close to breaking (the safety floor, plus any Durability Guard reserve)
- it is an area tool and the area policy is Never
Tier gates are the vanilla ones. A stone pickaxe is not offered for diamond ore; a diamond pickaxe is required for obsidian and ancient debris.
Every survivor is scored, and the highest wins. The scoring uses bands that cannot be overcome by the signal below them:
| Band | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Preferred mark | A tool you marked Preferred beats everything else that is eligible |
| Drop intent | A tool that delivers the wanted Fortune or Silk Touch beats one that does not |
| Area tool | Pushed far up under Prefer, far down under May be selected |
| Strategy score | Speed, tier and replacement cost, weighted by your chosen strategy |
| Durability preference | Healthiest, or most worn, depending on your setting |
| Already in hand | A tiny nudge, so two equally good tools do not make the hotbar flicker |
A tool that fills the required class also outranks one that merely stands in for it — shears beat a sword on a cobweb, even though both work.
Under the default enchantment strategy there is one short-circuit before any of the scoring happens.
If the tool in your hand carries Fortune or Silk Touch and it can do the job, the engine stops and changes nothing. Fortune and Silk Touch are mutually exclusive, so holding either one is a decision about what the block should drop — and overriding it hands you the wrong item from a block you may not be able to get back.
This is why the default is restraint rather than cleverness.
The engine uses vanilla's own numbers rather than a simple "higher tier is better" ladder.
Dig speed by material: wooden 2, stone 4, copper 5, iron 6, diamond 8, netherite 9, golden 12. Gold really is the fastest and really is the most fragile, which is exactly why speed and durability are scored separately.
Efficiency adds level² + 1 to the base speed — the real formula. That is why an Efficiency V iron pickaxe genuinely outranks a bare Netherite one under Fastest.
Harvest level by material: wooden and golden 1, stone and copper 2, iron 3, diamond 4, netherite 5.
Replacement value drives Preserve Valuable Gear. Materials contribute a base, every enchantment adds more, and an anvil name adds a lot — because a named enchanted tool is irreplaceable in a way raw materials are not.
An unrecognised custom tool is assumed capable rather than refused. Refusing it would make the add-on useless with third-party gear, and the worst case is one swing that does not break the block.
The first swap in a session records how to undo itself. Every later re-evaluation unwinds that first before choosing again, so a run through four block types still returns you to the torch you started with rather than the third tool it borrowed.
In whole-inventory mode the restore checks that both slots still hold what it left there. If you moved things during the swing it does nothing rather than shuffle slots you have since changed — the safe failure.
| Reason | Notes |
|---|---|
| Sneaking | When sneak bypass is on, which it is by default |
| The add-on is off | For you, or for the world |
| Spectator mode | Skipped |
| Builder protection | Briefly, right after placing a block while still holding a stack |
| Combat Lock | During a fight, so the weapon is not replaced by a mining tool |
Why did it pick that tool? reports whichever of these is active, in those words.